One Year. 200 Posts.

Post 200.

In some sort of splendid coincidence, my two hundredth post roughly coincides with my one year blogging anniversary, or blogoversary, as those less proper than me are wont to call it. After all, I am nothing if not grammatically correct – check out that first sentence. And I can’t tell you how many times I begin a sentence with and, but, or because. I’m notably fond of ending sentences with prepositions, which is nothing to be ashamed of. I’m also not afraid to wantonly use split infinitives.

For those who frequently read this blog (all 8 or so of you), it’s easy to discern my likes and dislikes. I like to reading good books, eating good food, consuming good drinks, and music. And obviously I just can’t help myself today (…non-parallel sentence structure).

Just stick a birthday candle on that cake.

Because this blog is supposed to celebrate the intersection of life and literature, I’m going to share some of the life side of that (since I primarily share the literature portion). Here are 10 things you may not know about me:

10. I consider myself to have an eclectic array of interests. I enjoy most types of fiction, food, movies, and music – I’m also open to most genres and rarely become irritable. However, there are a few bands/musicians who set my teeth on edge (for no discernible reason): U2, Coldplay, Beyonce, Oasis, Creed, and Kings of Leon. Also, I don’t like the idiom set my teeth on edge.

9. This is my two hundredth post; I would’ve preferred to do a post like this for no. 199. Because it’s prime.

8. If number nine didn’t give it away, I’m a bit of a math nerd. At one point I was among the top 1% of math students in the US, receiving a near perfect score on my ACT and SAT math and science reasoning exams. I probably only like literature to be contrary. Could I get any nerdier? Yes – I graduated from university a few years early and I am an ardent defender of the Oxford comma.

7. I’ve only had my heart well and truly broken once. (And once is enough, isn’t it? After that particular incident I figure I can emotionally survive almost anything.)

6. I don’t have a favorite book, but I could narrow it down to 10 or so. Probably.

5. One of the most romantic things anyone ever did for (with?) me was watch Flashdance AND Pretty in Pink without complaining. I imagine it wasn’t easy. Separate, but related: I also had a crush on Bender from The Breakfast Club for a very long time.

3. I was born (and have stayed) a little old woman on the inside. Just ask my mother, I’m not sure she ever knew what to do with me.

2. I’ve always wanted to wear glasses (as all good librarians do), but I have perfect eyesight.

1. I became a librarian because of a character in a Stephen King novel. The fact that I enjoy reading helped.

Bonus: I’m one of those rare people that dislikes ice cream.

So, 10 things you now know about me. You could write me an email titled ’10 Things I Hate About You’. Please don’t. It would make me sad – unless you gave the email a theme song sung by Letters to Cleo.

A few blog highlights:

Most popular post: NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
Favorite post: Donnybrook or DeliveranceComments: 2,266
Spam: 6,624
Best insult: Reading my blog should be considered a form of torture.

So one year of blogging down and an unknown number to go. Everyone else celebrates their blog birthday with a giveaway, but I had no idea what to do. I briefly came up with one really odd challenge involving the periodic table. I am not including it unless someone wants to work hard for a $10 gift card to amazon.

But sincerely, thank you to everyone who reads, it makes me happier than you might imagine. It’s a rare person who can put up with my sense of humor for long, so for those of you who have been following (and actually reading) for longer than a month have earned my utmost admiration.